Work Together To Deliver Health Care Results

Ontario Premier McGuinty Calls For New, High-powered Working Group To Focus On Access To Family Doctors And Shorter Waits

OTTAWA -- Ontarians want Canada's leading politicians to work together to deliver results on the issues that matter most to them: improved access to family doctors and shorter waiting times.

That's the message Premier Dalton McGuinty delivered today as he called for the country's Health and Finance ministers to form a new Health Reform and Sustainability Working Group.

"Ontarians want all of us to focus on delivering the results they deserve in return for the hard-earned tax dollars they give us," McGuinty said at the First Ministers' Conference here.

"In our province, far too many Ontarians can't find a family doctor, and far too many Ontarians are waiting far too long for important medical services. We need to ensure all governments are working together to ensure the money we spend is delivering more of the results our people want."

"The Premiers' top priority remains health care and the Prime Minister's confirmation of a one-time top-up of $2 billion for health care is a step in the right direction," said McGuinty.

"While we continue to discuss the critical issue of health care funding, we must also focus on results. It's not enough to tell our people that we're spending more than ever before on health care. We have to be able to credibly tell them that they're getting the results they want and deserve," he said.

"To do that, we need to work on reforming the system and making it accountable to patients, and we can best do that, working together."

Today's meeting was the Premiers' first opportunity to discuss key federal-provincial-territorial issues with Paul Martin since he became Primer Minister in December.

The Premiers are looking forward to a fuller meeting with the Prime Minister later in the year, and Ontario will continue to focus on results for Ontarians, particularly on the key health care issues facing Ontarians.